er...not starting

[bouffy]

following on from simon's 'enough is enough' thread, this seems appropriate..!

clambered into 93 griff 500 last night. Turn immobiliser off, turn key in ignition, fuel pump whirring, noise stops, turn key in ignition...nothing. Not a sausage. Locked the car, unlocked it, tried entire process again...nothing. It's definitely not a flat battery, so what could it be?

Any ideas - guessing it'll be a fuse? relay? starter motor?

Please bear in mind that I am an incompetent fool under the bonnet, and your suggestions will be forwarded to the 'very very nice man' from the AA tonight when i get home.

I nearly cried. It was such a nice evening, and I was looking forward to a good thrash around Beds. Doh! Hadn't driven it for 8/9 days when i took it for a 200 mile round trip - and it was driving perfectly.

>>> Edited by bouffy on Tuesday 8th July 12:31

[bouffy]

Thanks. Will I be needing a new starter motor? Or is a gentle tap sufficient? If I DO need one, what sort of money am I looking at? Anyone?

[bouffy]

Good man Ian - thanks very much for your help. Let's hope I can get it moving tonight...

Guy

[bouffy]

mmm...thanks guys.

Have tried to start it with lights on - lights stayed bright, but there was nothing happening at all when I turned the key...

Also locked and unlocked the car a few times, but seemed to have no effect - will try again tonight though. I have been slightly puzzled by how the alarm / immobiliser works with the roof off anyway, so maybe i'm being a bit of a numpty and it is still immobilised (it's currently sitting topless in m'garage). I have an aftermarket Toad alarm, which seems to have a different sequence of button presses to the standard meta alarm that i had on my chimaera. I've had a couple of issues with this in the past - it goes off for no reason etc. Maybe it's that? Am thinking about changing the alarm anyway, as I'm not sure if it's working as it should do.

edited to correct some of my bunch of arse typing

>> Edited by bouffy on Tuesday 8th July 12:10

[bouffy]

thanks gang. Have printed this all off, and will spend a few grubby hours inside the bonnet tonight. Will let you know I get on.

Guy

[bouffy]

Thanks for all your suggestions guys - it really is a pleasure to be a member of this forum. So much advice / friendship / helpful comments etc. Ballistic B - very kind of you to offer heading over to see the purple monster - yes I'm still in Bedford but not for long.

Ok, here goes - an update for you. Battery was indeed fairly flat, although lights etc working well. AA jump started it, but battery was not taking any charge - he suggested that I changed the battery (programme about the RAC anyone?!). When the bonnet was up and we left the car idling along, revs kept dropping from 1200 - 700ish and back again - symptom of no juice in the battery?

He gave it a little bit of welly - revs up to 3000 or so - and some smoke started coming out of the driver's side of the engine. I had a nose around, and could see a little oil leaking from the rocker cover...checked the oil level and it was just above the bottom marker on the dipstick, so filled her up with more. I have now put in approx 4 litres in 1500ish miles - now I know these puppies like a drink, but surely this is over the norm?

Mr AA didn't like the look of the smoke and he also said it sounded "lumpy", although it sounded exactly as it always has done, and also how my Chim sounded IMO. He suggested I took it to the doctors, so he arranged for it to be picked up his morning and taken (gratis) to the specialist where I bought it from 4 months ago. I spoke to the guy there, and after a brief descrption of symptoms, he reckoned it actually wasn't too much of a problem...last words, famous...

After moving the car this morning, there was NO oil on the road at all, and there has never been any oil leakage on the garage floor (not from my car anyway), so maybe it only leaks under acceleration or when car is moving. Mmm...

Confused of Bedford.

PS It could be worse though - they had a new Tuscan in the garage this morning having it's engine out to look for some knocking noises. Nice colour though.

[bouffy]

picked the griff up on thursday last week. It needed a new battery as the last one was shot and wasn't taking any charge, and there was a minor oil leak somewhere in the engine bay (they did tell me where, but I've forgotten!). It wasn't a major thing - something had just shaken itself loose and just needed to be tightened I think.

I drove it all over the place on Thursday and Friday (2 days off work) and it was absolutely fine. It now starts (!) and goes without any smoke coming ot of the engine bay. Phew-ee!

Garage was very good as always -
Charged me for the battery at cost, and fixed the oil leak for free "as a gesture".

Thank you Offord! Let's hope the sunshine stays put!

Bouffy

[bouffy]

Toffer said:

Bouffy, I have also found the guys at Offord to be really decent! Here's to them I was in there last Thursday for a tune-up and was charged a very reasonable £30.00 + VAT. The Griff is running fantastic! I will be back there again Friday to have the bonnet adjusted as IMO it has never been perfectly fitted...I bet they do a great job! BTW, I saw the tri-coloured Tuscan speed six, although it had been done beutifully, I hated the colour and was very, very happy it was not my car as it had only covered 8,000 miles from new!

yep, i imagine mr tuscan isn't a very happy bunny at the moment. Apparently the cost of the paint is around £700/litre! and it takes around 7 litres for a full respray....that's £4200 PLUS LABOUR ON TOP!

What did they do for your tune-up?

>> Edited by bouffy on Wednesday 23 July 11:26